Happy Spring! Recently I haven’t had time to blog as much but now I am making it a priority. With 2012 being a new chapter to YourPuppyNanny – Interviews from Real People and Canines. Every month we hope to feature owners, canines, animal care professionals etc
Thanks for agreeing to do a guest blog post interview with me – let’s start out with how old Sallie, Charlie and Zoey are and what breeds are they?
A: Both Charlie and Sallie are 3 years old this coming July. They grew up together as puppies. Zoey will be 2 years old in March. Charlie is a German Shepherd, Sallie is a Lab-mix-mutt and Zoey is a Vizsla hound (maybe a mix not really sure, but mostly Vizsla hound)
Did you get them from a rescue organization or breeder?
A: Both Sallie and Zoey were rescues. Charlie was an accidental “adoption” from a breeder. I’ve always wanted a German Shepherd and was “just looking” one day.. but I could never bring myself to buying one from a breeder. Charlie was so cute and he spent about 20 minutes figuring out how to untie my shoe laces. The breeder was also very laid back and not the typical “gung ho” GSB breeder I typically met. I just fell in love with Charlie’s smarts. Zoey is actually my daughter’s dog, but she had to move and she could not find a place that took dogs quickly enough, so Zoey became our “intern.” She still can’t make coffee…
What is a typical day like for the ‘pack’ – do they all get along with each other?
A: They really do get along together, but when we’re out at the “park” -{a housing development that went bust} anyone passing by would think they were tearing each other to bits. But they are not. Each one has a role in the pack. Zoey is Charlie’s rabbit that he chases, Sallie is Charlie’s muscle that tackles Zoey in mid stride, Zoey is Sallie’s exploring buddy in the woods..
A typical day is up at 5;00-5:30 for a morning walk around the block. Breakfast. Off to the office in the van and then nap, nap,nap until about 11:00 when they start circling my desk. Walk in the “park” for about an hour or two, depending on how rough the morning was. Then back to the office for lunch and a nap until it is time to go home. Sometimes, we’ll walk at about 9:00 again most days.
This is our daily planner.. http://www.dogwalkblog.com/the-definitive-guide-to-planning-your-day-to-maximize-your-potential-and-meet-cute-people.html
Do you have any funny stories you want to share about one of them?
A: I don’t have any funny stories that come to mind as every day produces some new stuff. Here is a video of Charlie and a watermelon that is pretty funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTK1SOoDs4E
How do you handle having 3 dogs? I am sure it must be a lot of work. Do they have their own sleeping room?
A: Some days, they handle me better than I handle them 
The trick to handling three dogs is to keep them in a pack, to go with the pack flow, to read their body language and notice when one tenses up, why they do that and keep calm. Nothing spins a pack out of control faster than when you panic, thinking you will not be able to control the dogs.
As far as sleeping, it depends on the time of day. During the day, Sallie “owns” the black sofa in my office. Charlie sleeps on the floor or in the entry way (much to the consternation of the UPS guy) and Zoey hangs on the sofa out in the waiting area. She has short hairs and we never get foot traffic but in case anyone were to sit there, no real harm that they’d notice right away. At night, Zoey sleeps under the covers on the bed, Charlie guards the house at the top of the stairs and Sallie owns the landing.
Could you please tell my readers about Rufus – was he your first? A German Shepard is that right?
A: Rufus was not my first dog, but he was my first “first dog.” We got Rufus in 1999 as a family dog. Right about Jan 2000, my sciatic nerve was kicking up and sitting was a problem.. but walking was not. So, I got used to standing and walking — a lot. 
Rufus was a convenient walking partner. By the time the nerves got back to normal in about six months, I had inadvertently trained a dog to walk 3-5 times a day, walk next to me without a leash and go everywhere I went. We stayed that way until he passed away suddenly in October 2008, ironically, because of a nerve anomaly that paralyzed his hind legs overnight and worked its way up his spine and to his brain within a day. http://www.dogwalkblog.com/good-bye-dear-friend.html I thought about shutting the blog down, but some good friends convinced me that the right thing to do was to continue blogging and adopt his persona.
Do you have any advice/tips for those looking to get a dog in the future?
A: Never buy a puppy and never buy a puppy during the holidays. What I mean about not buying a puppy is you should get your dog as a puppy, but never buy the “puppy” when you really mean to buy the “dog.” Dogs are puppies for about nine months and dogs for about 10-20 years. You should plan for the dog stage as that will last longer.
If your lifestyle does not include daily walking, make sure you change that before you buy the dog. Snow, rain, cold, heat should never be an excuse to not walk. I see way too many “sunny day dog walkers” out there. Their dogs are so pent up with cabin fever that they are mostly uncontrollable. Sunny day dog walkers give the rest of us a bad name, so don’t be that guy.
Your dog is not your child. You are not his mom or dad. Your dog is your dog and you are his leader.
And whatever you do, DO NOT dress your dog up. Not even on Halloween. Really.
About Rufus Dogg
I’m a dog who writes a blog. It is not a pet blog. It is a real blog that talks about real ideas. No, really. I do my own writing, but I have a really, really cool editor who overlooks the fact that I can’t really hit the space-bar key cause I don’t have thumbs. I talk about everything from politics to social issues to just rambling about local problems. And, sometimes I just talk about nothing in particular.
Follow Rufus on Twitter: @dogwalkblog
